Genome-Guided Discovery of Natural Products and Biosynthetic Pathways from Australia’s Untapped Microbial Megadiversity

2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 129 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Kalaitzis ◽  
Shane D. Ingrey ◽  
Rocky Chau ◽  
Yvette Simon ◽  
Brett A. Neilan
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Genome Sequencing ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Biosynthetic Pathways ◽  
Natural Product Biosynthesis ◽  
Guided Discovery ◽  
Biosynthesis Gene ◽  
Microbial Natural Products

Historically microbial natural product biosynthesis pathways were elucidated mainly by isotope labelled precursor directed feeding studies. Now the genetics underpinning the assembly of microbial natural products biosynthesis is so well understood that some pathways and their products can be predicted from DNA sequences alone. The association between microbial natural products and their biosynthesis gene clusters is now driving the field of ‘genetics guided natural product discovery’. This account overviews our research into cyanotoxin biosynthesis before the genome sequencing era through to some recent discoveries resulting from the mining of Australian biota for natural product biosynthesis pathways.

scholarly journals A Multi-Omics Characterization of the Natural Product Potential of Tropical Filamentous Marine Cyanobacteria

Marine Drugs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Tiago Leão ◽  
Mingxun Wang ◽  
Nathan Moss ◽  
Ricardo da Silva ◽  
Jon Sanders ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Genome Mining ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Microbial Interactions ◽  
Marine Cyanobacteria ◽  
Pharmaceutical Drugs ◽  
Genes Encoding ◽  
Microbial Natural Products

Microbial natural products are important for the understanding of microbial interactions, chemical defense and communication, and have also served as an inspirational source for numerous pharmaceutical drugs. Tropical marine cyanobacteria have been highlighted as a great source of new natural products, however, few reports have appeared wherein a multi-omics approach has been used to study their natural products potential (i.e., reports are often focused on an individual natural product and its biosynthesis). This study focuses on describing the natural product genetic potential as well as the expressed natural product molecules in benthic tropical cyanobacteria. We collected from several sites around the world and sequenced the genomes of 24 tropical filamentous marine cyanobacteria. The informatics program antiSMASH was used to annotate the major classes of gene clusters. BiG-SCAPE phylum-wide analysis revealed the most promising strains for natural product discovery among these cyanobacteria. LCMS/MS-based metabolomics highlighted the most abundant molecules and molecular classes among 10 of these marine cyanobacterial samples. We observed that despite many genes encoding for peptidic natural products, peptides were not as abundant as lipids and lipopeptides in the chemical extracts. Our results highlight a number of highly interesting biosynthetic gene clusters for genome mining among these cyanobacterial samples.

A Natural Product Chemist's Guide to Unlocking Silent Biosynthetic Gene Clusters

2021 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett C. Covington ◽  
Fei Xu ◽  
Mohammad R. Seyedsayamdost
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene Clusters ◽  
Research And Innovation ◽  
Therapeutic Leads ◽  
Microbial Natural Products

Microbial natural products have provided an important source of therapeutic leads and motivated research and innovation in diverse scientific disciplines. In recent years, it has become evident that bacteria harbor a large, hidden reservoir of potential natural products in the form of silent or cryptic biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). These can be readily identified in microbial genome sequences but do not give rise to detectable levels of a natural product. Herein, we provide a useful organizational framework for the various methods that have been implemented for interrogating silent BGCs. We divide all available approaches into four categories. The first three are endogenous strategies that utilize the native host in conjunction with classical genetics, chemical genetics, or different culture modalities. The last category comprises expression of the entire BGC in a heterologous host. For each category, we describe the rationale, recent applications, and associated advantages and limitations. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Biochemistry, Volume 90 is June 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals A chromatogram-simplified Streptomyces albus host for heterologous production of natural products

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asif Fazal ◽  
Divya Thankachan ◽  
Ellie Harris ◽  
Ryan F. Seipke
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Heterologous Production ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene ◽  
Critical Aspect ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene Clusters ◽  
Streptomyces Albus ◽  
Microbial Natural Products ◽  
Suitable Expression

AbstractCloning natural product biosynthetic gene clusters from cultured or uncultured sources and their subsequent expression by genetically tractable heterologous hosts is an essential strategy for the elucidation and characterisation of novel microbial natural products. The availability of suitable expression hosts is a critical aspect of this workflow. In this work, we mutagenised five endogenous biosynthetic gene clusters from Streptomyces albus S4, which reduced the complexity of chemical extracts generated from the strain and eliminated antifungal and antibacterial bioactivity. We showed that the resulting quintuple mutant can express foreign BGCs by heterologously producing actinorhodin, cinnamycin and prunustatin. We envisage that our strain will be a useful addition to the growing suite of heterologous expression hosts available for exploring microbial secondary metabolism.

scholarly journals Mining of Cyanobacterial Genomes Indicates That Plasmids Are Involved in the Production of Natural Products

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Popin ◽  
Danillo Alvarenga ◽  
Raquel Castelo-Branco ◽  
David Fewer ◽  
Kaarina Sivonen
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Biosynthetic Pathways ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene Clusters ◽  
Chemical Structures ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Genes Encoding

Abstract Background Microbial natural products have unique chemical structures and diverse biological activities. Cyanobacteria commonly possess a wide range of biosynthetic gene clusters to produce natural products. Several studies have mapped the distribution of natural product biosynthetic gene clusters in cyanobacterial genomes. However, little attention has been paid to natural product biosynthesis in plasmids. Some genes encoding cyanobacterial natural product biosynthetic pathways are believed to be dispersed by plasmids through horizontal gene transfer. Thus, we examined complete cyanobacterial genomes to assess if plasmids are involved in the production and dissemination of natural products by cyanobacteria.Results The 185 analyzed genomes possessed 1 to 42 gene clusters and an average of 10. In total, 1816 biosynthetic gene clusters were found. Approximately 95% of these clusters were present in chromosomes. The remaining 5% were present in plasmids, from which homologs of the biosynthetic pathways for aeruginosin, anabaenopeptin, ambiguine, cryptophycin, hassallidin, geosmin, and microcystin were manually curated. The cryptophycin pathway was previously described as active while the other gene cluster include all genes for biosynthesis. Approximately 12% of the 424 analyzed cyanobacterial plasmids contained homologs of genes involved in conjugation. Large plasmids, previously named as “chromids”, were also observed to be widespread in cyanobacteria. Sixteen cryptic natural product biosynthetic gene clusters and geosmin biosynthetic gene clusters were located in those mobile plasmids.Conclusion Homologues of genes involved in the production of toxins, protease inhibitors, odorous compounds, antimicrobials, antitumorals, and other unidentified natural products are located in cyanobacterial plasmids. Some of these plasmids are predicted to be conjugative. The present study provides in silico evidence that plasmids are involved in the distribution of natural product biosynthetic pathways in cyanobacteria.

scholarly journals A chromatogram-simplified Streptomyces albus host for heterologous production of natural products

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 (4) ◽  
pp. 511-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asif Fazal ◽  
Divya Thankachan ◽  
Ellie Harris ◽  
Ryan F. Seipke
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Heterologous Production ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene ◽  
Critical Aspect ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene Clusters ◽  
Streptomyces Albus ◽  
Microbial Natural Products ◽  
Suitable Expression

AbstractCloning natural product biosynthetic gene clusters from cultured or uncultured sources and their subsequent expression by genetically tractable heterologous hosts is an essential strategy for the elucidation and characterisation of novel microbial natural products. The availability of suitable expression hosts is a critical aspect of this workflow. In this work, we mutagenised five endogenous biosynthetic gene clusters from Streptomyces albus S4, which reduced the complexity of chemical extracts generated from the strain and eliminated antifungal and antibacterial bioactivity. We showed that the resulting quintuple mutant can express foreign biosynthetic gene clusters by heterologously producing actinorhodin, cinnamycin and prunustatin. We envisage that our strain will be a useful addition to the growing suite of heterologous expression hosts available for exploring microbial secondary metabolism.

scholarly journals Multiplexed metagenome mining using short DNA sequence tags facilitates targeted discovery of epoxyketone proteasome inhibitors

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (14) ◽  
pp. 4221-4226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy G. Owen ◽  
Zachary Charlop-Powers ◽  
Alexandra G. Smith ◽  
Melinda A. Ternei ◽  
Paula Y. Calle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Proteasome Inhibitors ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Metagenomic Libraries ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Product Sequence ◽  
Globally Distributed ◽  
Metagenome Mining

In molecular evolutionary analyses, short DNA sequences are used to infer phylogenetic relationships among species. Here we apply this principle to the study of bacterial biosynthesis, enabling the targeted isolation of previously unidentified natural products directly from complex metagenomes. Our approach uses short natural product sequence tags derived from conserved biosynthetic motifs to profile biosynthetic diversity in the environment and then guide the recovery of gene clusters from metagenomic libraries. The methodology is conceptually simple, requires only a small investment in sequencing, and is not computationally demanding. To demonstrate the power of this approach to natural product discovery we conducted a computational search for epoxyketone proteasome inhibitors within 185 globally distributed soil metagenomes. This led to the identification of 99 unique epoxyketone sequence tags, falling into 6 phylogenetically distinct clades. Complete gene clusters associated with nine unique tags were recovered from four saturating soil metagenomic libraries. Using heterologous expression methodologies, seven potent epoxyketone proteasome inhibitors (clarepoxcins A–E and landepoxcins A and B) were produced from these pathways, including compounds with different warhead structures and a naturally occurring halohydrin prodrug. This study provides a template for the targeted expansion of bacterially derived natural products using the global metagenome.

scholarly journals Genetic platforms for heterologous expression of microbial natural products

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (9) ◽  
pp. 1313-1332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Jia Zhang ◽  
Xiaoyu Tang ◽  
Bradley S. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Heterologous Expression ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene ◽  
Biosynthetic Gene Clusters ◽  
Genetic Technologies ◽  
Microbial Natural Products

This review covers current genetic technologies for accessing and manipulating natural product biosynthetic gene clusters through heterologous expression.

scholarly journals The Tripod for Bacterial Natural Product Discovery: Genome Mining, Silent Pathway Induction, and Mass Spectrometry-Based Molecular Networking

mSystems ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela B. B. Trivella ◽  
Rafael de Felicio
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Natural Products ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Biosynthetic Pathway ◽  
Genome Mining ◽  
Chemical Compounds ◽  
Gene Clusters ◽  
Tandem Mass ◽  
Molecular Networking ◽  
Natural Product Discovery

ABSTRACT Natural products are the richest source of chemical compounds for drug discovery. Particularly, bacterial secondary metabolites are in the spotlight due to advances in genome sequencing and mining, as well as for the potential of biosynthetic pathway manipulation to awake silent (cryptic) gene clusters under laboratory cultivation. Further progress in compound detection, such as the development of the tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) molecular networking approach, has contributed to the discovery of novel bacterial natural products. The latter can be applied directly to bacterial crude extracts for identifying and dereplicating known compounds, therefore assisting the prioritization of extracts containing novel natural products, for example. In our opinion, these three approaches—genome mining, silent pathway induction, and MS-based molecular networking—compose the tripod for modern bacterial natural product discovery and will be discussed in this perspective.

scholarly journals Heronapyrrole D: A case of co-inspiration of natural product biosynthesis, total synthesis and biodiscovery

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 1228-1232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Schmidt ◽  
Zeinab Khalil ◽  
Robert J Capon ◽  
Christian B W Stark
Keyword(s):  
Antibacterial Activity ◽  
Natural Products ◽  
Total Synthesis ◽  
Asymmetric Synthesis ◽  
Natural Product ◽  
Joint Effort ◽  
Natural Product Biosynthesis ◽  
New Members ◽  
Degree Of Oxidation ◽  
Rare Class

The heronapyrroles A–C have first been isolated from a marine-derived Streptomyces sp. (CMB-0423) in 2010. Structurally, these natural products feature an unusual nitropyrrole system to which a partially oxidized farnesyl chain is attached. The varying degree of oxidation of the sesquiterpenyl subunit in heronapyrroles A–C provoked the hypothesis that there might exist other hitherto unidentified metabolites. On biosynthetic grounds a mono-tetrahydrofuran-diol named heronapyrrole D appeared a possible candidate. We here describe a short asymmetric synthesis of heronapyrrole D, its detection in cultivations of CMB-0423 and finally the evaluation of its antibacterial activity. We thus demonstrate that biosynthetic considerations and the joint effort of synthetic and natural product chemists can result in the identification of new members of a rare class of natural products.

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